Sudanese delegation participating in the 87th session of the Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights announces its rejection of the joint Banjul Declaration

The Sudanese delegation participating in the 87th plenary session of the Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, held in Gambia, announced its rejection of the draft joint declaration, known as the Banjul Joint Declaration, adopted by the Joint Fact-Finding Mission of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the human rights situation in Sudan, and the joint declaration issued by the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission established by the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Sudan.

The Sudanese delegation justified its position by stating that this joint declaration lacks a legal basis that would legitimize this action. In the absence of such a legal basis, this joint action falls outside the bounds of legal legitimacy.

The Sudanese delegation also criticized the incomplete report submitted by the African investigation team, which, as they indicated, only visited refugee camps abroad and conducted some virtual interviews.

In his speech delivered today by Ambassador Al-Zein Ibrahim Hussein, Sudan’s representative to the African Union, before the session in Banjul, the delegation called for the African team to meet with the national mechanisms responsible for investigating violations of international and national humanitarian law within the country, as well as law enforcement agencies, and to listen to the victims inside before entering into such a commitment with international bodies. Sudan refused to deal with them because there are also international mechanisms inside the country affiliated with the United Nations.